Calgary Flames Predictions and Preview of the Week Nov 28- Dec 4

The Calgary Flames have another busy four game week in the week from November 28th to December fourth. Let’s look at some predictions for the week.

The Calgary Flames have yet another four-game week this week. Come on NHL, give them a break. They’ll be finishing up their longest road trip of the season and they can finally come home and lose games at home instead. Kidding. But let’s look at the games this week:

Monday November 28th – CGY @ NYI

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The Calgary Flames will finally finish their longest road trip this season in Brooklyn on Monday evening against the New York Islanders. The Isles are currently last in standings in the entire NHL with a mere 16 points. Comparing these two special teams, they’re pretty similar. Both near the bottom, the Isles doing a little better than the Flames.

Isles are 13.8% on the power play whereas the Flames are 10.5%. The Isles are 79.7% on the penalty kill whereas the Flames are 75.8%. I definitely think this game could go either way, but the one big factor for who will walk away with the two points will be dependent on who is able to capitalize with the special teams.

In the last game for the Flames against the Philadelphia Flyers, all their goals came from the special teams. They had one PP goal and two short-handed goals. If they can keep up that momentum and do their best to stay out of the penalty box, they’ll be able end their road trip with a win. We saw in the last few games that the Flames have some disciplinary problems so if they can keep those in check and support Brian Elliott between the pipes, they’ll be just fine.

The Flames have had some slight scoring problems, however if they can take advantage of the fact that the Islanders are in the same boat, they’ll walk away with the win. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I’d say the Flames will probably get the two points

Oh Toronto. What a story they’ve been this season. The Toronto Maple Leafs are doing slightly better than the Calgary Flames, but they’ve had some troubles of their own. The Leafs have been unable to keep a three goal lead multiple times this season.

Like the Flames, Toronto has had some troubles between the crease as well this season. Frederik Andersen seems to be their go-to guy with his 9-6-3 record this season. Then there is Jhonas Enroth who is 0-2-1 this season and has been relieved by Andersen twice. Let’s just all cross our fingers that the Leafs coaching staff chooses to play Enroth that game.

The overall outcome for this game? I’m going to say that the Leafs will have a two-goal lead which the Flames will tie. The game will be 4-4 by the end of third period and the Flames will win in OT.

Honestly, if this is right then I’m going to become the YYC medium.

Friday December 2nd CGY vs MIN

The last time the Calgary Flames and the Minnesota Wild played, the Flames shut them out 1-0. And Chad Johnson received his first shutout as a Flame with a 27 save performance. The Flames coaching staff will most likely decide to play Johnson that game, since they’ve been turning to him more often lately.

If the Flames don’t get too expectant that the same thing will happen like the last time they played the Wild, they’ll be fine. However, the Wild’s special teams are significantly better than the Flames. If Calgary can find a way to stay out of the penalty box and remain somewhat disciplined for the whole 60 minutes, it won’t be a disaster.

However, and I hate to say it, but my prediction for this game is that Minnesota will take it. They’ll be hungry from their last meeting with the Flames and they’ll want the win more than ever. Especially since they were shutout.

Sunday December 4th CGY vs ANA

The team Flames fans love to hate. This has become quite the fun rivalry to watch over the last few years. The Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks will end the week with a game at the Saddledome. Hey, at least it’s not at the Honda Center. The Flames have a chance. This will be the second meeting between these two teams and the first time didn’t go so well for Flames fans. They lost 4-1 and two came from Ryan Kesler. He has no significance to this at all, but it’s Ryan Kesler. I thought I should mention him since Flames fans also hate him.

Of course, it was at the Honda Center which has a curse on the Flames. But the Ducks aren’t doing as well as they have been over the last few seasons. They’re currently in a wild card spot and the Flames are only a few points within reach of them. If everything else this week goes the Flames way and it’s up to this game, if the Flames can walk away with three wins this week, one coming from this game, I have high hopes they’ll make playoffs.

The last time these two teams met, the Ducks went 2/3 on the PP and the Flames were 0/2. Again, much like most of their games that end up being one goal games, if they can manage to be disciplined and capitalize on at least one power play opportunity, they can walk away with the two points.

My prediction for this game is that whoever wins will win by one goal. Not sure who it will be yet, but it’ll be by one goal.

So there you have it, the preview for this week. If the Calgary Flames can manage to go 4/4 this week I will write a very nice letter to every player telling them how beautiful they all are. But for now, one can just hope they can walk away with four wins in a row.